I served in the military 4 years and now I'm in college. I'm pursuing a dual major in economics/accounting. I'm an officer in the schools investment portfolio. I want to be a financial advisor and I'm sure there are plenty on these forums that can answer me questions:

1) Since I will have money left on my GI Bill I'm thinking of getting a masters in accounting (1 year program) and maybe a CPA. I assume this would be a smart idea for a future financial advisor? Or skip it and jump right in?

2) I understand the term financial advisor is vague and can mean a lot of potential career paths besides just investments. But I've been told it's very cut throat, you work long hours, and although after a few years it's more laid back but there is a high initial failure rate. Any suggestions that would better position be to succeed?

3) Any suggestions about where to apply after graduation and where to intern now?

Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:55 am

smkPreferred Member

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Re: New here: future financial advisor

quote:Originally posted by Radix3dNew to this forum my name is Blake.

I served in the military 4 years and now I'm in college. I'm pursuing a dual major in economics/accounting. I'm an officer in the schools investment portfolio. I want to be a financial advisor and I'm sure there are plenty on these forums that can answer me questions:

1) Since I will have money left on my GI Bill I'm thinking of getting a masters in accounting (1 year program) and maybe a CPA. I assume this would be a smart idea for a future financial advisor? Or skip it and jump right in?

2) I understand the term financial advisor is vague and can mean a lot of potential career paths besides just investments. But I've been told it's very cut throat, you work long hours, and although after a few years it's more laid back but there is a high initial failure rate. Any suggestions that would better position be to succeed?

3) Any suggestions about where to apply after graduation and where to intern now?

i have a few suggestions:

1) accounting and finance are two entirely different disciplines with different thought processes. in accounting, you are doing just that: counting. if y ou want to represent something fairly, you need to count how much to put in this bucket vs that bucket. finance is about making decisions in an optimal way to make the most money. many accountants think they know finance, but they really don't. you need to figure out whether you want to count as a professional or be more like a detective to find the most profitable way of doing things.

2) financial advisers today are about 30 years behind the tiimes in terms of understanding financial theory. i looked through some cfp prep books where they just give you a bunch of rules of thumb, half of which are wrong. you need to study asset-liability management and focus on how people can protect their income stream into retirement to pay their bills. wealth maximimzation is not a direct solution and got the pension industry into some very hot h2o. the financial industry is fighting modernization with all it has, trying to preserve the old way of life. it is not good for clients.

3) if you are going to work with individual investors, you also need to help them make life decisions. their decisions are not about money alone, although their relationship with money may be unhealthy. you should pick a discipline and study that aspect as well.

if you are going into finance, know your stuff and work diligently for the best interests of your clients. you also will not have many friends in the field if you do this...as for the accounting stuff, if you think you want to be an accountant, do it. otherwise i would do a cfa instead. my experience is that it is much better than the cfp and they are trending more towards individual investors nowadays. that sort of designation may help as an alternative to cpa...

1) accounting and finance are two entirely different disciplines with different thought processes. in accounting, you are doing just that: counting. if y ou want to represent something fairly, you need to count how much to put in this bucket vs that bucket. finance is about making decisions in an optimal way to make the most money. many accountants think they know finance, but they really don't. you need to figure out whether you want to count as a professional or be more like a detective to find the most profitable way of doing things.

I almost went with finance, but the finance department is small (4) professors and some are over the hill themselves. They only offer like 3-4 relevant classes, one of which I have to take anyway. So I was planning on taking advanced port management as business electives and maybe something else.

Thanks, I'll look into the CFA more I thought the CFP was more relevant that's good to know!

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Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:52 pm

eatingbadNew Member

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Welcome the forum, maybe it's the best place to learn make money online.